judy
Well-known member
Zack had parvo and distemper titers measured and he had a complete blood chemistry panel, on Wednesday. I got all the results and they are all normal. It's a very complete chem panel, it has everything on it, including a full thyroid panel, and every single value on it is exactly normal, not even borderline. In fact, when the vet left me a voicemail with the results, she said his results were "perfect." And on the printout of the tests which they faxed me (without my having to ask, which i really appreciate) she wrote that his thyroid results were "very good." The only thing that wasn't "normal" was platelets which were low, but on the printout it said "normal for breed," which is true, and the vet also wrote on the print out, "For this breed, lowered platelet counts in the absence of a bleeding tendency is a normal phenomenon."
I'm happy that everything is very normal and there are no hidden abnormalities that showed up at this point. Zack had bloodwork two other times, each time he was sick and he had some abnormalities, but now he's not sick, and everything is normal. I'll have this done each year as a wellness check up thing.
There's going to be a breed club sponsored cardiology clinic with board certified cardiologist in May which i've contacted them about signing up for. I'll have that done once a year too, if available. And there will be an eye clinic at the same time.
Unsurprisingly, the titers for parvo and distemper were "adequate," so one of his puppy shots definitely worked to immunize him. For now, i won't get boosters but will keep researching. The test printout says "serologic/vaccine titers for parvovirus and distemper show adequate/adequate humoral immunity indicating that this dog should respond with a boosted anamnestic effect to afford memory response against these agents upon exposure. Recheck serologic/vaccine titers annually." It gives the actual values of the titers.
The vet i went to was Jean Dodds, the vaccine researcher. i made a 40 minute drive rather than go to my local vet, because of the controversies about titer reliability--i felt most confident in Jean and her lab for titers. Another reason for the choice is that Dodds's clinic, Hemopet, is a nonprofit. The complete blood chem panel and thyroid panel cost $87 while the less extensive bloodwork Zack had done in late June at my regular vet was $187.
:yikes
Both vets use the same lab for blood chem panels, Antech.
Titers at Hemopet, for parvovirus and distemper combined were a total of $35 plus $15 for drawing the blood, so $50. At my local vet, the total is $72.
I'm happy that everything is very normal and there are no hidden abnormalities that showed up at this point. Zack had bloodwork two other times, each time he was sick and he had some abnormalities, but now he's not sick, and everything is normal. I'll have this done each year as a wellness check up thing.
There's going to be a breed club sponsored cardiology clinic with board certified cardiologist in May which i've contacted them about signing up for. I'll have that done once a year too, if available. And there will be an eye clinic at the same time.
Unsurprisingly, the titers for parvo and distemper were "adequate," so one of his puppy shots definitely worked to immunize him. For now, i won't get boosters but will keep researching. The test printout says "serologic/vaccine titers for parvovirus and distemper show adequate/adequate humoral immunity indicating that this dog should respond with a boosted anamnestic effect to afford memory response against these agents upon exposure. Recheck serologic/vaccine titers annually." It gives the actual values of the titers.
The vet i went to was Jean Dodds, the vaccine researcher. i made a 40 minute drive rather than go to my local vet, because of the controversies about titer reliability--i felt most confident in Jean and her lab for titers. Another reason for the choice is that Dodds's clinic, Hemopet, is a nonprofit. The complete blood chem panel and thyroid panel cost $87 while the less extensive bloodwork Zack had done in late June at my regular vet was $187.
:yikes
Both vets use the same lab for blood chem panels, Antech.
Titers at Hemopet, for parvovirus and distemper combined were a total of $35 plus $15 for drawing the blood, so $50. At my local vet, the total is $72.